


When You Have Nowhere To Be

by aintweproudriff



Series: Author's Picks [15]
Category: Bandstand - Oberacker/Oberacker & Taylor
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, First Kiss, Flirting, Getting Together, Kinda, M/M, Rain, Secret Admirer, ambiguous setting, flirting using books, that is to say you can read it in canon time or in modern time and either way it works, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2019-09-30 07:58:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17220011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aintweproudriff/pseuds/aintweproudriff
Summary: Davy mentioned that Mother Nature had made it rain. Jimmy had always been partial to the more scientific explanation, but now he was wondering if he should send a gift basket to Mother Nature as a thank you for forcing him to live a fantasy he’d never known he had: being stuck in a bookstore with two very attractive men.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> akldjfa I don't know what this is but I hope you like it anyway  
> it was going to be in one part but I like attention so here's the first part  
> it might be in more than 2 chapters depending on what happens

Jimmy first noticed the note after he had finished the book. It was scrawled on the page right before all the copyright information, so he couldn’t be blamed for skipping over it. But now he had finished, and he needed to cite this book in his paper. And there, in messy handwriting, he read something he hadn’t expected to see in a law textbook. 

_Law books? So you’re cute and smart? I’m impressed. -D_

Jimmy read the note over and over again, and then tried to deduce from there. This was a new book, not a used one, so it must have been addressed to him. It was a personalized note, judging by the “you’re” that the author used, so whoever had written it had seen Jimmy in person. And the plural form of the word ‘book’ meant that whoever wrote it had seen all the law books he had, but Jimmy rarely left the house with more than one. The last time he had brought more than two anywhere had been when he had bought them. Which brought him to the conclusion that the note had probably been written by someone at the bookstore.   
Luckily for him, his most recent chat with a professor ended with a book recommendation, which necessitated a trip back to the little bookstore with the surprisingly big law section. It was the same store where he’d bought the stack of books that currently sat on the corner of his desk, including the one that contained a mysterious note from D. 

The bell at the front of the store dinged as Jimmy pushed open a heavy brown wood door and stepped into the shop. He was instantly comforted by the smell of old books, and smiled in spite of himself. 

“Hi, how are you today?” asked a voice, and Jimmy looked over to see a bearded man in a white t-shirt standing behind the counter. He recognized him, but he wasn’t sure if he had been working here the last time Jimmy had come to the store or the time before. 

“Good, and yourself?”

The man smiled, but there was a hint of something bitter behind his expression, like he’d rather be doing anything besides working. Jimmy could relate; writing this paper had taken a toll on him the past few days. “I’m alright. I think it might rain today, though.”

Jimmy turned his head to look back at the clouds forming outside. “I hadn’t noticed, but you might be right.”

“Well,” the man shrugged. “Can’t fight Mother Nature, can you?”

“S’pose not,” Jimmy acknowledged, eyeing the law section in the corner of the store. 

“If you need any help, let me know,” the man - Jimmy made a note to ask his name - waved, and Jimmy nodded in a way he hoped conveyed a ‘thank you’.

He started browsing, smiling to himself as he thought about books he recognized, and how far he’d come with this law degree. It may have been hard in that moment, but all the years of working would pay off soon when he finally got to work in courts, protecting the rights of people in danger.   
When his thumb brushed over the spine of the book he’d found a note in, he couldn’t help himself. He pulled it out and opened to the copyright page, looking in vain for a note. He found nothing, which confirmed his theory that the note was personal. Now that he know for sure, he blushed. Someone - someone who might be in the bookshop even now - thought he was cute. Not that it was an uncommon occurrence, of course. Still, the thrill of not knowing who it was made him nervous.   
Remembering that he’d seen the man working before, he turned around to get a better look.   
So maybe he looked for a few seconds too long at how the man’s short sleeves showed off his muscles, and the man felt his stare and looked up. 

He smiled, like he knew what Jimmy had been doing. “Can I help you with anything?”

“No, uh,” Jimmy took in a deep shaky breath, and heard a dull sound from outside. “It’s raining,” he said, feigning interest in looking out the window. 

The man’s eyes followed Jimmy’s gaze. “So it is. What’d I tell you?”

Jimmy laughed and turned around again, thankful for the rain that made it look like he hadn’t just been ogling a man who was working.   
He’d just found the book his professor had mentioned and pulled it off the shelf when he heard a crash from the other side of the store that made him jump out of his skin. He watched the man shoot up from his seat behind the desk and make his way to the back of the store. Jimmy tucked the book (and another one that he thought looked interesting) under his arm, and followed.   
The two of them soon saw the cause of the crash: a lanky, curly-haired man, desperately trying to pick up as many books from off the ground as he could. 

“Let me help you,” Jimmy knelt down, and so did the man working. 

“I’m so sorry,” said the man who had made the mess. “I really didn’t mean to.”

The man working shook his head as he put some books back. “It’s okay, um-”

“Johnny.”

“Johnny, I’m Davy, and that’s the most interesting thing that’s happened my whole shift. Actually, probably in all of my shifts this past week.”

Jimmy laughed, glad that both men now had names in his mind.   
Once all the books were cleaned up, and Davy had confirmed that they were in the right places, the three of them shared a sigh. 

“Good. Well,” Davy smiled. “Do either of you need anything?”

“I think I’m ready to check out, actually,” Jimmy held up his books. 

Davy smiled, and the two of them walked to the counter. Davy rang up his total, a number that made Jimmy suck some air in through his teeth, but turn it into a grin. These books were well worth their cost. 

“If you’d just check and see that the price is correct there,” Davy slid him a receipt. 

Jimmy read it and nodded. “A little high, maybe, but it’s right.”

Davy looked up, and Jimmy thought he saw something conspiratorial in his face. “Hm. Let me see if I can do something about that. Here! Is that better?”

Jimmy looked at the new receipt, shaking his head when he saw the words ‘10% discount’.   
“That’s very nice, but I can’t take that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Davy waved it off. “Consider it my contribution to the justice system.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay then. Thank you, Davy.”

Davy smiled. “You’re welcome, person who never gave me their name.”

“I’m Jimmy,” he said, feeling a warm numbness run through his limbs. “Um,” he looked outside. “Do you have plastic bags? I don’t want these to get wet in the rain.”

It was Davy’s turn to suck in air. “We don’t, actually. We’re reducing our plastic use, and we just ran out.”

“I’d commend your environmentalism,” Jimmy joked, ”but it’s really inconvenient. I may just have to wait around here until the rain lets up.”

“You’re welcome to,” Davy interrupted. “I mean, I know you’re kidding, but if you don’t want to brave the rain, it’d be good to have some company in here for a while.”

Jimmy considered it. “Actually, that sounds alright.”

“That’s pretty much what this store is: a place to be when you’ve got nowhere to be. So tell me, Jimmy,” Davy sat on his stool. “Law? Is it a hobby of yours, or-”

“You could say that,” he laughed lightly. “I’m getting a degree so I can be a civil rights lawyer. It’s pretty much consuming my time these days.”

“Impressive.”

He shook his head. “Thanks. But I have a feeling I’d rather work here.” He nodded to the stacks of books. “Is it nice? I imagine it’d be peaceful.”

“It is,” he agreed. “When it’s not so boring I think I’ll die of old age before my shift ends.”

“Does that happen often?”

“Meh. We don’t have many people in here. Apparently we’re not as comprehensive as the store a few blocks down. I talk to what customers there are, and read in the free time. Of course, that means I’ve read almost all the books in here.” He paused, calculating his statement. “Except for the law books. Those are too boring to cure boredom.”

Jimmy pretended to hit Davy with one of the law books in question, to show him that maybe they were more exciting than he thought. 

“Do you need a chair, Jimmy?” Davy said, still laughing. 

“Oh, um. Yes please. Is there one I can drag over?”

“Let me grab one,” Davy stood up, walking behind a door and leaving Jimmy to watch the rain alone. 

Someone behind him coughed, startling him. He jumped around to see the man who had dropped the books earlier. 

“You know, that’s the second time today you’ve scared me,” Jimmy told him, clutching his chest and hoping he was coming across as good-natured. 

“Sorry,” Johnny said, and it looked like he really meant it. “You’re a customer, right?”

Jimmy nodded. “Yeah, I’m Jimmy. I’ll be hanging around her until the rain lets up, so I don’t get these books wet.”  
He didn’t know why he’d added the extra information, but it was in the air now, and Johnny didn’t seem to mind. 

“Okay, do you know where the guy who was working went? Um, Davy?” He raised his eyebrows like he wasn’t sure he got the name right. 

“Yeah,” Jimmy pointed to the door. “He went to get a chair, and he should be right back.”

“Ah, okay. Cute, isn’t he?”

Johnny’s question made him pause, suddenly and instinctively terrified of having his identity found out. It was a fear that dated back as long as Jimmy could remember, but having it dredged up casually almost seemed intended to mock his struggle. But, considering, Johnny had asked the question first, acknowledging that he could tell Jimmy was gay, or he himself was queer. Plus, Jimmy was no longer a teenager; he could be out safely now. 

“Yeah, pretty cute,” was the answer he eventually chose. 

“The two of you aren’t so bad yourselves,” Davy said, carrying a chair in each arm. The way he smiled at Jimmy as he set the chairs on the ground made Jimmy blush bright red. “Here,” he continued. “Thought I might invite Johnny here to stay a while too. Care to, Johnny?”

Johnny looked confused, turned to Jimmy, looked outside, and then it dawned on his face. “Right! Sure, but um,” he held up the three books he was holding, “I should pay for these now, though, or I’ll forget.”

Jimmy sat on the little wood chair Davy had brought for him and took a deep breath.   
Davy mentioned that Mother Nature had made it rain. Jimmy had always been partial to the more scientific explanation, but now he was wondering if he should send a gift basket to Mother Nature as a thank you for forcing him to live a fantasy he’d never known he had: being stuck in a bookstore with two very attractive men.   
And they were both attractive. Davy, like Johnny had said, was cute in a muscly, strong-and-smart kind of way. And Johnny was cue in a clumsy, sweet, smiley kind of way. 

He watched Davy ring up Johnny’s books, and smiled when Johnny laughed, loudly and clearly, at some joke Davy had made. Their outlines were stark, glowing against the dark background of the rainy street. Jimmy found himself almost torn between wanting the rain to let up so he wouldn’t have to deal with watching these two people anymore and wanting it to last forever, so he could stay here as long as he wanted. Of course, he knew it wasn’t up to him: that was for Mother Nature to decide.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not to be Nick and toot my own horn, but sometimes I was writing something and I was like "oh shit that's really good." A few times, I even keysmashed. So I really hope you like this chapter as much as I did.

He stopped his daydreaming as the men in question came to sit down. Davy pulled his chair from the counter closer to Jimmy. Johnny held his newly purchased books in his lap. 

"Are those piano books?" he asked Johnny, who nodded. "Do you play?"

Johnny laughed. "I don't play piano; these are for my friend. He's in my band, and it's his birthday. They're love songs, because I know he'll want to sing them to his girlfriend," he paused, thinking very hard, "and his boyfriend."

Jimmy smiled at the second casual mention of queerness, and a mention of polyamory, and leaned back in his chair. 

"You're in a band?" Davy asked. "What do you play?"

"I'm on drums. Do either of you play?"

Jimmy's favorite question to be asked. It didn't come without caveats, however, because it meant he had to choose a few instruments to claim, instead of listing off all twelve he played. He found that that made people think he was showing off. 

Luckily, Davy answered first, giving Jimmy some time to pick favorites. "I play some strings," he said, a wide grin on his face. "Cello, upright bass, guitar."

"I play sax," Jimmy backpacked off of what Davy had said, choosing to also mention only three instruments. "And clarinet, and some piano."

"Both of you play three instruments?" Johnny leaned forward. "Man, that's something."

Jimmy shook his head. "None of mine are as hard to learn as percussion. Or make me look quite as attractive as drums or guitar would."

"I dunno," Davy shrugged, and Jimmy could tell he was about to tease by the way his eyes began to crinkle at the edges. "Clarinet. That's pretty hot."

"Saxy," Johnny added, staring at Davy with disappointment. "How did you just pass up an opportunity to say saxy?"

Davy cursed under his breath, and Jimmy laughed. 

"I've never heard that before," he joked back at them, rolling his eyes. "None of my ex-boyfriends ever made that joke."

Johnny sat up straight. "Well, then I guess that makes us smarter than all your ex-boyfriends."

"Combined," Davy nodded, falsely solemn. 

He pursed his lips. "Hm," he thought back to someone he hadn't remembered in a long time. "Smarter than the surgeon?"

"Okay," Davy held up his hands in surrender. "Maybe not him. But the rest, for sure."

"The lawyer and the surgeon," Johnny hummed. "How'd that power couple split?" Realizing he might have made a blunder, he backtracked quickly. "If you don't mind me asking."

Jimmy had to say he appreciated Johnny's correction. "He cheated on me."

"I take it back, because that makes him a total idiot," Davy interjected, leaning forward quickly and speaking surprisingly seriously. "And I'm much smarter than him now."

Jimmy smiled, remembering all the times he and his old college buddies had trashed that dirtbag. "It was a long time ago, don't worry. One of my friends beat him up, too, so it turned out okay."  
The way Johnny and Davy looked at him made him desperate for a subject change.   
“Davy,” he decided to say, “you said you’ve read most of the books in here. Any suggestions?”

Davy looked around the whole store, taking it in, his eyes wide. “Oh, tons. Let me show you,” he said, nodding his head in the direction of a bookshelf.  
Jimmy stood up and followed, Johnny hopping off his chair and walking next to him. 

"Do you guys like fiction?"

"Who doesn't?" Johnny answered Davy's question with another question, and Jimmy was inclined to agree. 

Davy hummed. "You'd be surprised," he ran his fingers across the spines of books. "Some people come in here and have no imagination whatsoever. I feel bad for 'em."

Watching Davy talk like that, with so much passion and feeling in every word, Jimmy's brain came to a sudden, harsh and slightly upsetting conclusion: he was fucked. 

The rain continued to pour, the sound bringing Jimmy back to the present just in time to watch Davy pull out a book. 

"How about this one?" he asked, holding up a paperback book: For Whom The Bell Tolls.

"Oh, I read that," Jimmy smiled, pointing a finger at the familiar cover. "Hemingway, right?"

"Yeah," Davy nodded. "What did you think of it?"

"It was well-written, and I liked the theme of it. But it certainly wasn't, y'know-"

"Uplifting?"

"Exactly. And there's so much tragedy in the world already that I don't feel a need to read more of it."

As he talked, Jimmy noticed Johnny hanging to the side, listening but never contributing his own opinions. Jimmy wondered if he hadn't read the book. 

Davy put away the book, and pulled out another, one that made Johnny finally jump into the conversation. 

“Oh, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn! I liked that one!” he smiled with recognition. “Liked it so much I cried, actually.”

Davy blinked in surprise. “Oh, really? Dang. What did you like about it?”

“Oh, I don’t know, really. It reminded me of growing up, I guess. Brought back a lot of old memories I’d forgotten. And it was hopeful, you know? Like no matter what, life prevails.”

Jimmy looked at him, noticing a reflection in Johnny's eyes that looked like the sun itself. That kind of excitement and belief in hope-  
He was doubly fucked. 

"I haven't gotten around to reading that one yet," Jimmy admitted to Johnny, trying to shake his persistent thoughts. "I've had lots of people recommend it to me though."

"Well, consider this two more," Davy shoved the book in his hands. 

"I can't pay for a whole other book today, Davy."

"Can you manage fifty percent off? I'd give it to you for free, but if there isn't some cash in the register, I'd lose my job. And all things considered, I do like it."

Jimmy rubbed his thumb over the raised letters of the title. "I can do that. If you insist."

Johnny seemed overjoyed. "Jimmy, you're going to love it. Seriously, I considered writing a letter to the author after I finished reading it. It meant that much to me."

Their eyes met for a second, and Jimmy smiled softly, taking note of more glimmers in Johnny's gray-blue eyes.   
"Okay," he promised. "I'll start reading it as soon as I get home."

Johnny grinned and clapped Jimmy on the shoulder, startling him. "Good man. Do you have any suggestions?"

“Not really,” Jimmy admitted. “I’ve been spending most of my time with law books, so I haven’t had a lot of time to read for fun.I don’t even know what’s new right now.”

“That’s a shame,” Davy said so quietly it was hardly audible.   
The whisper ushered them into a moment of silence, and Jimmy quickly realized that it was truly silence: no rain.

“It stopped raining,” he said softly, letting the words bounce off the bookshelves around them. 

“So it did.” Davy put the book he was holding back on the shelf, turning to look outside. "You guys could probably leave, if you wanted to."

Jimmy checked his watch and frowned. "I probably should. I'd much rather stay here, trust me, but-" he gestured to the books he'd left by the chair "-work calls."

Johnny nodded, his eyebrows knitted together. "I'll head out with you. Things to do, books to give as gifts."

Jimmy smiled and tried to ignore the way Davy didn't quite meet his eyes. For a moment, when he thought about how Davy's face looked, he felt guilty. Then bitter: it wasn't his fault he had to leave. It wasn't like he could have actually stayed in that book store forever. 

"I'll pay for this," he told Johnny, "and then let's walk together as far as we can."

That brought a smile back to Johnny's face. "Sounds like a plan."

Davy smiled, eyes oddly dull, at Jimmy while he scanned up his half-priced book. Jimmy turned around to grab the rest of his books, passed to him by Johnny. The two of them talked briefly about the theory Jimmy was writing about for his paper, and how he’d heard about the book. 

“Here you go,” Davy passed the book to Jimmy. Their fingers brushed slightly in the transition, sending shivers of warmth up Jimmy’s arm. 

Jimmy tried to look grateful, happy, but something about knowing he’d walk out the door felt strange. “Thank you. I’ll see you soon, okay? I’m certain I’ll have to talk about this book with you.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Davy sat back down behind the counter. 

A bell above the door rang loudly into the street as Johnny and Jimmy stepped out onto the street. 

"So are you glad you went into law?" Johnny asked. 

Jimmy thought about it. "Yeah. There were plenty of other paths I could have taken, but I like this one. Or at least I will, when school is done and I eventually start doing things and making a difference. Are you glad you went into music?"

"Absolutely," Johnny answered, purely confident. "I wouldn't change it for anything."

"That's impressive," Jimmy smiled at him, surprised their paths hadn't diverged yet. "I think it's admirable that you love your job so much."

"I'm lucky it pays well, or I wouldn't be able to keep it up," Johnny laughed. 

Jimmy took a deep breath, and stopped on the sidewalk, trying to figure out a way to put the knot in his stomach into words. “Johnny,” he breathed. “Do you think today was special, maybe?”

“I do. It’s not every day you have to stay somewhere because of rain, especially not somewhere as cool as a bookstore.”

“No, I mean-”

“Let me finish,” Johnny held out a hand, and Jimmy slammed his mouth shut. “And it’s definitely not every day you meet people like you and Davy. I mean, I clicked with you guys instantly, both of you. And from what I was feeling, you guys clicked with me too. Or you liked me as much as I liked the two of you. So yeah, today was special.”

Jimmy leaned in, before he could consider another option. Confident and absolute, just like Johnny. And Johnny kissed just like he talked about music: loving, happy, with no reservations or second thoughts. 

“A special day,” Jimmy whispered, his heart beating. The books tucked under his arm felt incredibly heavy, and he switched them from one arm to the other. Without knowing quite why, he began to flip through the pages of the last book he had bought. There, on the page before all the copyright information, was a note. 

_Don’t take too long before you come back, okay? It’s more fun with you and Johnny in the store. -D_

Jimmy sucked in a breath. “We have to go back to the store,” he told Johnny, showing him the note. 

“Is that from Davy?”

“Yeah, and I’ve gotten a note like this from him before. We should go, and um-”

Johnny laughed. “Do to Davy what we just did to each other?”

“Exactly,” Jimmy smiled, grabbed Johnny’s wrist, and pulled him down the street in the direction they had just come. 

He saw the outline of Davy standing outside the store, turning a key in the lock on the big wood door. He was closing up shop. 

“Davy!” he yelled, waving a hand above his head. “Hold on a minute!”

“Let me at him first, please?” Johnny’s voice was out of breath and quiet. 

As much as he wanted to be selfish and refuse Johnny’s question, Jimmy breathed out a “yes, of course,” as they approached. 

Johnny all but threw himself at Davy, and Jimmy understood what it must have looked like when Johnny knocked over all those books in the store. The two of them met like the rain, crashing and thundering, a force of nature to propel Jimmy one way or the other. He couldn’t look away from their kiss, immensely grateful he’d stopped on the sidewalk and opened the book. Otherwise, the two of them might have gone their separate ways, and he may have missed the meteorological spectacle of a lifetime; not to mention he could have forgotten about one or both of them entirely, and he didn’t know what he would have done if that happened. 

When their storm finally subsided, Davy looked at Jimmy, questioning and expectant. Jimmy stepped forward so his chest was pressed against Davy’s, and breathed heavily.   
“You wrote the notes in my books,” he murmured, and Davy laughed. 

“Yeah. Who else would it have been?” 

When Davy kissed Jimmy, it wasn’t a storm. It was meditated, it was “so you’re cute and smart? I’m impressed.” It was “Don’t take too long before you come back, okay? It’s more fun with you and Johnny in the store.” It was thumbs flipping through pages of a book, looking for a particularly poetic quote. It was scratches of a pen, and the ringing of a bell. 

The two of them pulled away from each other, smiling widely. 

“So, um, dinner?” Johnny asked, and Jimmy and Davy turned to look at him. “Tomorrow, maybe?”

“Tomorrow sounds good,” Davy drummed his hands on his legs happily. “I know a place nearby that’s really good. Could we meet here, like-” he checked his watch “-this time tomorrow?”

“Works for me,” Jimmy could feel himself blush, but he couldn’t care. “I should get going, though.” He kissed Davy’s cheek, and it felt so easy. Why he had almost hesitated to come running back to Davy, he didn’t understand. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Davy.”

Davy waved at Jimmy and Johnny as they started walking back up the sidewalk, away from the book store. Johnny had taken his hand, and he didn’t feel like letting go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!! I could be convinced to write more of this ship. Maybe even their first date after this story, if people really want it. Don't hold your breath though.


	3. Let's do a reprise on that first chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had a request for the first chapter, but from Davy's perspective!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for loving this fic, it means so so much to me! I hope I did this chapter justice in your minds.

There was only one other person in the bookshop, so Davy had his eye on the scrawny stranger since the moment he walked in and caused the bell over the door to ring. He recognized him almost instantly as the man who had bought law books a few weeks ago; Davy remembered the words he’d written in the front cover of one of the books, and wondered if he’d seen the note.   
When he entered the shop, Davy spoke to him first, in the same way he normally spoke to customers: “Hi, how are you today?”

“Good, and yourself?” he said, with a polite but tight-lipped smile. 

“I’m alright,” Davy answered casually, but realized he might not sound happy, so he decided to give some explanation as to the cause of a poor mood. “I think it might rain today, though.”

“I hadn’t noticed, but,” the man craned his neck to look out the front window, “I think you might be right.”

Something about this action and the attempt to keep up the silly small talk made Davy look this man up and down. “Well,” he concluded, trying to look casual and recover from how obviously he’d checked him out, “can’t fight Mother Nature, can you?”

“S’pose not,” the man said, and Davy watched as he planted himself one step forward, paused, and scanned the store, seeming satisfied when he saw the reference book section. He evidently needed to get on his way and find what he wanted to read. 

“If you need any help,” Davy said, hoping to end the conversation on a high note, “let me know.”

The man didn’t respond, but awkwardly nodded, and beelined toward the bookshelf he had been eyeing earlier.   
Davy watched as he browsed, and had to laugh at all of his little quirks. The man - was he a lawyer, a student of the law, or just someone with an interest? - repeatedly took a book out and flipped through its pages, smiling occasionally with pride or scrunching his face in disgust or disagreement.   
There was one book in which he took particular interest, running his thumb pensively up and down the spine and investigating the front cover. Davy struggled to read the title of it from so far away, but it wouldn’t have surprised him if it was the same book he’d defaced with flirtation a few weeks ago, and the man was trying to see if the note was in another copy. Judging by the red creeping up the back of the man’s neck, he’d discovered the truth.   
Davy saw him start to turn around, and pulled his gaze down to the book he had in front of him. He heard the rain start to come down from outside, and he smiled, worrying he looked like a crazy person when he felt the gaze of the law book-reading stranger. After a moment, he started to wonder if the man was still looking at him, and he looked back up.   
Yes - he was still watching, and his shoulders visibly raised with a sharp intake of breath when Davy looked up. 

“Can I help you with anything?” Davy asked, hoping to quell the anxiety in his face. 

“No, uh,” the man shook his head slightly, glancing out the window as he did. “It’s raining,” he said, and pointed. 

“So it is,” Davy laughed. “What’d I tell you?” he asked with well-practiced ease. 

Davy was grateful that the man laughed and kept browsing. He didn’t know how he would have functioned if he had wanted to keep talking.   
He started to breathe a sigh of relief, but jumped up at the sound of merchandise falling. Either it was a breeze, a ghost, or-  
The man he had been ignoring for the past half an hour. He’d knocked over one of the more precariously stacked towers of books. Davy had known that it was only a matter of time until something like this happened. He couldn’t just have two attractive men in the bookshop on the day he was working without something going horribly wrong. Karma, or supernatural forces, or something like that, dictated misfortune for him.   
Davy bolted to the back of the store, but the man with the law books got there first. 

“Let me help you,” he said, and Davy’s heart melted. 

Davy followed his lead, kneeling down to help pick up the books. 

“I’m so sorry,” said the man with the curly hair. “I really didn’t mean to.”

Like Davy had thought earlier, he really should have expected this. “It’s okay, um-” he paused, hoping the man would offer a name. 

“Johnny.”

“Johnny, I’m Davy, and that’s the most interesting thing that’s happened my whole shift,” Davy laughed, aiming to help him be more at ease. “Actually, probably in all my shifts this past week.”

Davy stacked the books, separating them into two stacks so that they would be less likely to fall over, and smiled once they were all cleaned up. “Good,” he said, hoping to give some sort of a conclusion. “Well, do either of you need anything?”

“I’m ready to check out,” said the man with the law books, lifting them up.

Like he’d done a thousand times before, Davy rang up the items and passed the man a receipt. “If you’d just check and see that the price is correct there.”

“A little high, maybe,” laughed the man, “but it’s right.”

Now, Davy wasn’t really supposed to give discounts, and he certainly wasn’t supposed to do it on a whim, but he didn’t want this man to leave. If he couldn’t keep him there, he could at least try to brighten his day. “Well, let me see if I can do something about that.”   
He added in a discount and printed a new receipt. “Here, is that better?”

“That’s very nice, but I can’t take that.”

Davy didn’t want to let that slide; he was already committed to saving the cute man a few extra dollars. “Don’t worry about it. Consider it my contribution to-” he pointed to the law books “-the justice system.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay, then. Thank you, Davy.”

Davy started when the man said his name, forgetting that he’d said it to Johnny, and that this man had probably heard. “You’re welcome, person who never gave me their name.”

“I’m Jimmy,” the man said with a shy smile. “Do you have plastic bags? I don’t want these to get wet in the rain.”

Davy glanced underneath the desk, and sighed. “We don’t. We’re reducing our plastic use, and we just ran out.”

“I’d commend your environmentalism,” Jimmy joked, “but it’s really inconvenient. I may just have to wait around here until the rain lets up.”

If Davy had known he could have gotten men to talk to him by running out of plastic bags, he would have thrown them all out a long time ago. He invited him to stay, and Jimmy accepted, much to Davy’s surprise.   
They made a little bit of small talk, and Davy had Jimmy laughing musically. Eventually, Davy decided that the rain wasn’t about to let up any time soon, and he offered to get Jimmy a chair.   
And he would admit, it was more than flattering to hear Johnny call him cute, and to hear Jimmy agree. 

“The two of you aren’t so bad yourselves,” he said as he emerged. He felt a surge of satisfaction as Jimmy blushed. “Here,” he passed the chair to Jimmy. “Thought I might invite Johnny to stay here a while too. Care to, Johnny?”

Johnny’s face twisted as the tried to understand why someone would stay longer than they had to; besides, apparently, the draw of the men. He looked out at the rain and seemed to get it. “Right! Sure, but, um, I should probably pay for these, otherwise I’ll forget.” 

Davy looked down at the books he was holding, and he tried his best to make Johnny laugh as he gave him a (discounted) total for the books. With Jimmy sitting to the side, and Johnny in front of him, he thought he was in for a pretty good rest of his shift, just as long as the rain didn’t let up too soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said, I like attention, and it generally motivates me to write more, so if you liked it you should leave a comment or a kudo (or come say hi on tumblr @aintweproudriff or @lesbianpomatter) and we'll both be happy!


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